I need you, brother (AU)
by MarenMary93
Summary: AU: Dean never got Sammy to tag along on the attempt to find their father back in S01 (2005). Instead Sam continued being Joe College, and eventually married Jess. Flash forward to 2015, Dean's leg gets busted up bad and his days as a hunter might be gone, and Sam is having issues on his own... Hurt!Dean, PTSD!Sam, Cute family and AWESOME!BOBBY (Because he's just AWESOME, always)
1. Start

**Okay, this is an AU. Where Sam and Dean hasn't really spoken since Sam left for college back in 2001. (Let's just say it was 2001… IDK…) None of the things that happened because they were a team has happened… No real apocalypse has ever started, and Dean's still hunting the monster of the week, still oblivious to angels and leviathans and… Many of the 'newer' monsters…  
Sam lives with his wife Jessica Lee Winchester… And everything is just apple pies and love and work and normalcy…**

 **After many years apart, Dean seeks out Sam. Dean has lived as a hunter, and without any hunting partners for almost a decade… He has outlived most of what's out there, but it has all left its marks…**

 **Well… Hope you will enjoy it.**

Sam Winchester was stuck in traffic on his way home from work. He had been in court for seven hours that day, defending a 40 year old man who had shot and killed an attacker. The big thing was that the bullet had _entered_ in the back of the attacker's shoulder and the exit wound had left a big gaping hole in the man's chest.

But Sam knew that the man was innocent. Or at least… You know…  
The man was a hunter, and he had killed a werewolf… But he couldn't tell the court that, much less prove it to people that had grown up without his previous lifestyle…

The four lines heading east were jammed with cars, bumper to bumper… Horns were honking all around, people were anxious to get back home… He was too…

He could almost taste Jess' home cooked lasagna, the one she had promised to make. And then after dinner he would drive Deanna to her gymnastics class, and he and Jimmy would head out to football practice. Where he was one of the co-coaches… His life was so different from what it had been 16 years ago, and he felt truly blessed.

SPNSPNSPN

"Hi honey!" Jess' voice felt like velvet in his ears. "Dinner's almost ready! I just need to set the table and let the lasagna set for a minute or so…"

He flashed her a smile, "What would I ever do without you?"

She winked at him, the usual set-up for their long time banter.

"Crash and burn…" a smile graced her lips, before she went in for a soft kiss.

"Yeah… I probably would…" he brushed a lock of hair away from her face and kissed her on her forehead. "I certainly would…"

SPNSPNSPN

Dean Winchester dragged his half dead body towards his Impala, the only place he had ever called home. It had been a rough couple of decades… Hell… A rough life…

His left hand clamped down on a wound on his abdomen, as his right hand helped dragging him forward. Literally dragging him.

His knee had given out once again, and the thought of retiring started to seem like the only option left. His body had seen enough damage to be no good for anything, but stubbornness kept him going on.

He reached the car, and crawled around to the trunk. Opened her up and found the first aid kit… The four inch cut on the left side of his bellybutton needed stitches, in a hurry… He threaded the needle, a task his hands had done so many times before… Then he found an half-empty bottle of whisky, and poured a good amount on the bleeding gash. He hissed as the alcohol stung his flesh, rinsing it…

He poured a bit over his fingers and the needle too, then he set to work. He dug the needle into his skin, and closed the wound as well as any nurse would have… At least with their heart hammering, in a hurry and with a knife through their knee…

That was what it felt like anyway… His left knee… He hadn't had the chance to take a look at it yet, but he was damn sure something was completely wrong… Crutches for weeks kinda wrong…

He found a bottle of Vicodin pills and placed them in the pocket of his jacket. He would take a couple when he got himself settled for the night, just to get his four hours of shut-eye… Or a good amount of booze could do the same… He would have to see…

He crawled back to the driver's door, and lifted himself up. Experience had taught him that was the best way to get into the car when one leg was busted, your ass was on the ground and no one was around to help… It eliminated the risk of stepping wrong, and placing weight on an already injured leg.

He searched his pockets, found his out of date phone and hit speed-dial #2.

"Yeah…" a gruff voice greeted him, and he relaxed at the sound of Bobby's voice.

"Bobby. It's me…" he paused to keep himself from wincing, "Can I stay with you for a while? I'm less than an hour away…"

"Sure kiddo…" a hint of a smile pressed through in the older hunter's voice, "My place is always open for my boys…"

"Thanks man!" Dean bit his lip as a tremor of pain rolled through his left leg, pressing pain was seizing his knee…

"I'll find a bed sheet and some stuff, just walk right in as alwas…"

"Thanks!"

He hung up, and turned the key. The Impala roared to life, and Fortunate Son by Creedence started playing over the stereo. He smiled and headed towards Singer Salvage…

SPNSPNSPN

A familiar muscle car pulled into his yard, and when no one had walked into his living room after eight minutes, Bobby stepped outside on his porch.

He saw the boy soldier he had met so many years ago, leaning up against the back door. Even in the poor moonlight he could see the kid he regarded as his own son favoring his left leg…

"Dammit you idjit!" he muttered as he hurried towards his fellow hunter.

"What happened son?" he asked when he reached the car.

"Was working a case just across the border, got tossed around good…" Dean admitted as he almost fell into Bobby's offered support.

"Broken?"

"It's something for sure…" this time he couldn't help but growl as the moving jostled his leg, "Not sure that it's broken though…"

"We'll get you inside and have a look at it… Anything else hurt?"

"Nothing a couple of stitches didn't fix…"

"Good…" Bobby remarked as he almost carried the taller hunter inside.

 **Okay… Hope you enjoyed it so far…**


	2. Issues

**Thank you so much for the comments! And the Fav's…**

Sam woke up sweating, panting and gripping the bedsheet. Flashes of his former life had stolen his sleep once again…

It was what he paid for the peaceful life. Back when, he had seldom had nightmares… Almost never… Because he rubbed noses with it almost every day. He didn't have time to relax back then, and since it had been all action, all of the time, the nightmares never really found him…

Now, the most adrenaline filled post of his schedule was the two nights a week he held martial arts classes… And that was far from enough to keep what psychologists might call PTSD at bay…

"Relax babe, go back to sleep…" Jess' sleepy voice spoke beside him.

"Think I need a run…" he gasped back, scooting off the bed and opening the drawer that held his shorts and tees… "Be back when… You know…"

In the mirror he saw Jess nodding, it wasn't a new thing for them… No, all of this had started as early as his first year at Stanford.

"Love you…"

"Love you too, Jess!" he replied with warmth in his voice, before he headed out the door.

SPNSPNSPN

"That thing really did a number on your leg…" Bobby winced as he unraveled Dean's leg.

Dean didn't speak, he just nodded and took a good sip of the bourbon Bobby had found for him.

"What did you say did this to you?"

"I didn't…" Dean swallowed hard, "It was a Wendigo…"

"Wendigo?"

"Yeah… Seems like those things are going all crazy all of the sudden… Had more wendigo cases last seven months than the previous twelve years…" He bit back a groan as another tsunami wave of pain hit him.

"Yeah… Lots of hunters have been complaining about that. Seems like they all sense something and start acting up all at once…"

"Yeah… And you know what? I don't like it Bobby!"

"None of us do… None of us do…"

Bobby gently lifted Dean's knee on top of his own right knee. As he let the backside of the knee rest on top of his, he started manipulating the leg to hopefully rule out a few injuries.

"AIAIAIAIII!" Dean's hands darted out, and his face took on a chalky color. Bobby himself was left fighting against his late lunch once he had felt how little resistance the knee joint really had.

"We better get you to the hospital…"

"No Bobby…" it was more of a plea than anything else…

"Something's thorn inside your knee… We're going to the hospital! EVEN if I have to CARRY your stubborn ass!"

"Do I have to?"

"Yes, you idjit!"

Thirteen hours later, Dean was rolled in to the OR, his ACL was thorn off. His PCL had an incomplete tear and his medial meniscus had a rip in it, and his lateral one was shot to hell…

 **Okay… Hope you still like it! Might take a few days before I have time to post more…**

 **BTW does any of you watch CHICAGO MED? I advise you all to check the show out… I might have a story partially ready for it, when the show tab comes up here on**


	3. Princess

**Thank you all so much for all the review and fav's! Makes me happy!**

 **Okay, I'm sorry that it's been a while… I have no excuses other than the fact that I am human… Still getting the hang of that…**

 **Figured you guys would be disappointed if I just skipped over everything 'crutchy'…**

After a few days in the hospital, Dean was allowed to come 'back home' again. He rode shotgun while Bobby drove the 22 miles back to Singer Salvage.

A brand new, white cast immobilized his left leg, and Dean was almost certain that it would drive him crazy before his eight weeks, plus, was up… Eight weeks or more in a cast, or brace if he behaved, and then four more weeks after that before he could drop the crutches…  
He was pretty sure the doc had something against him… Because who the hell needs a cast for up to eight weeks…? Or more…

It was going to be a loooong bunch of weeks…

SPNSPNSPN

Sam took an evening stroll with Deanna, Jimmy and their flat coated retriever. A four year old, black dog named _Bonzo_.

He was still mesmerized by how normal his life had gotten. A wife, two kids and a dog… Normal people had that… He was officially normal…

Everything was peaceful and nice, and deep down he couldn't help but wait for the other shoe to drop… It was like… Like…

…Like everything was too damn good…

The chaos was missing, and he was happy. Happier than he had ever been…  
But he couldn't help but think it would all end in a bloody, fiery mess… It was like it was bound to happen… Sooner or later…  
Wasn't it?

His kids' quarrel brought him abruptly back to reality, like a punch in the gut…

"No! You can't have it! Stupid!"

"Then I'll tell mom about the vase you broke! Bitch!"

Bitch. A word to describe a dog, a word used as an insult, and a word used as mock insult by… He swallowed hard, and blinked away the stinging sensation in his eyes.

It was his girl who said it. Deanna. Deanna who was a spitting image of Sam's older brother… And by some unholy reason she seemed like she inherited his personality too… Sam was in no doubt that he would have his hands full by the time she hit her teens…

"Daddy! Deanna called me a bitch!" his oldest complained, but Sam couldn't really respond. He had been taken off guard…

"And you broke a vase…" he didn't really know why he pointed that out, but it was all his mind could come up with as it flooded by pictures of Dean, and some of the times _he_ had been called bitch…

Jimmy stared hard at him, before he turned around to play with Bonzo instead.

The rest of the trip, Sam fought against memories, and wondered where his brother was. _If he was alive…_

SPNSPNSPN

"All right, just place your crutches there… And I can help you down on the couch…" Bobby offered, his lips almost stretched into a smile.

"I HAVE used crutches before you know! I don't need help!"

"Sure didn't look like it while you staggered your way over the gravel outside…" a smirk crossed his lips at the small and innocent insult.

"Exactly! Gravel!" Dean bit back as he leaned the crutches up against the back of the couch and prepared to hobble around it, using the couch itself as support.

"Tnaaaw… You're so cute when you're angry…" Bobby continued mocking, he knew he shouldn't, but Dean made it so easy…

"Shut up, old man!"

"Oh, come on… Princess!"

"Screw you, Bobby!" Dean said with a scowl.

"I'm just messin' with ya…"

"It's not funny, Bobby…"

"Yeah… It is…" Bobby sighed, "At least for a few minutes… You want some coffee?"

"There any bullying with that?" Dean's eyebrows crawled closer as he looked up on the older hunter.

"No… Just coffee…"

Dean looked at him for a few more seconds before his face relaxed and he nodded as to answer the previous question.

"Thank you, Bobby!"

Bobby nodded back, and made his way to the kitchen.

SPNSPNSPN

He couldn't beat it.

Images of Dean filled his brain. His voice echoed throughout Sam's whole head…

He couldn't quite explain it, but something felt wrong… He didn't know how or why or what… But something was wrong…  
He was sure of it.

 **Okay… I kinda have the jitters, because my cousin is on a mission to find me here, and my nickname is so obvious it hurts… Damn it…**

 **Almost contemplated changing my name here, but then I realized that it might not be the smartest move ever… Since a few of you almost seem to like reading what I write…**

 **I'm screwed… I'm just crossing my fingers that she's not a black-belt in searching the internet…**

 **(Heeey... Managed to post this without using the touchpad! Yey me!)**


	4. Coffee

**Thanks for all the reviews so far! Thank you!**

Dean made the time pass by watching old Bonanza reruns on TV, then he took a short walk to the mailbox and back. A task which was much harder than it seemed… After his daily attempt to get the mail, he would either ride in to town with Bobby, or stay and work on one of the old wrecks…

Each time he went in to town, he made a stop at Coffee World. The only coffee shop in town… He kinda had a thing for the brunette who worked there… She was short-ish, like 5'3"… Blue eyes and soft, strong, wavy, brown hair, that reached almost to the small of her back.

"Coffee, black?" ocean blue eyes looked up at him as he reached the counter. Her smile reached her eyes…

"Yes please…" he smiled back, leaning on his crutches.

"I'll bring it over for you… Just need to let it brew first…" a faint trace of embarrassment flittered across her face.

"Okay… I'll be at my table…"

She smiled and nodded.

SPNSPNSPN

Sam flipped through the contacts in his phone. Wishing and hoping to find one of his brother's many aliases there… Only to remember that he hadn't saved any of Dean's numbers in his last three phones…

How hard could it be to remember? 555-933-2323? 555-243-6529? Probably not… He twisted his brain, searching for the answer… He had known all the numbers by heart once upon a time…

He found an app on his cell, searched for John B. Banner, Lucas Stark, George Ford…  
But nothing…

He wrings his brain a bit more, but comes up empty-handed…

SPNSPNSPN

 _You're getting too old for this… One-night-stands is something that belongs to your twenties… You're a grown up now… You should settle down…_

 _You're a hunter… There is no such thing as settling down…_

 _There's hunting, and then there's dying… No hunter, ever has seen any other end to it…_

 _Except Sammy… A wife, two kids and a dog…  
Dean had stopped by from time to time… He had kept his distance, he didn't want to burst in to Sammy's little dome of happiness and ruin it all by dragging him back in… He was lucky… He had gotten out… _

His leg shot him a bolt of pain, from where it rested propped up on a chair in front of him.

 _Or maybe this was his way out? His knee was pretty much FUBAR anyway... He wasn't guaranteed a full recovery… Maybe this was the universe's way of giving him the middle finger and telling him to retire?  
No… He was born to be a hunter…  
He would get better…  
He would… _

_He was nothing, if he wasn't a hunter…_

Minutes passed by as his mind slowly crawled into a deeper, darker, pit…

"Here you go, enjoy…" Sarah, the brunette, winked at him as she retreated back to her counter.

He managed to smile back…

 **Okay… Figured a trip inside Dean's mind would be kinda nice…  
Errr…**

 **And I would not give Sam the easy way out, having him call Bobby, through Singer Salvage… And ask if he knew anything about Dean… That would've been too easy…**


	5. Phonecall

**Hey, sorry I haven't written anything in a great while. I'm currently working 6 days a week, and writing original stuff I might or might not publish on Amazon/Kindle… We'll see…**

He cursed himself for not remembering any of Dean's numbers. How hard could it be? 10 digits… He knew the three first ones, he only had to remember 7…

Half an hour went by, and no results. Nothing other than a filled page of doodles.

Another half hour went by, and he gave up. He found another number on his phone.

 _Uncle_

It rang three times, before the line was picked up. The person on the other side sighed before he answered.

"If you have this number, you probably know who you're callin'…"

His throat seemed to close up. He swallowed hard, trying to keep his emotions at bay. It was more than a decade since he had heard that voice last.

"Bobby?" Sam's voice was shaking like a leaf.

"Wait a minute… Sammy? Is that you?"

"Yeah…" Sam nodded towards the phone.

"Damn, it's good to hear from you boy!" Bobby almost cheered. "I hope all is well…"

"Yeah, all is well with me and my family. I just have a slight problem…"

"Oh yeah?" Bobby cleared his voice. "Hope it doesn't have anything to do with what you used to do…?"

Sam chuckled a bit. "No, it doesn't…"

"Good…" the older hunter was pleased.

"Or, well… Maybe, sorta…"

"Okay?"

"I've got this horrible feeling, it's lasted for a couple of days now… I can't seem to shake it…" Sam tried to explain, as he gestured wildly into the air in front of him.

"Go on…"

"Do you know anything about Dean? If he's…"

 _Alive…_ _Dead…?_ The words weren't spoken, but Bobby understood them just the same.

"He's alive, son…"

"You sure? You've spoken to him today?"

"Well, yeah…"

"OH THANK GOD!" Sam stretched back and his back cracked. "I've been so afraid, and I couldn't remember his numbers… And I couldn't find 'em either!"

"Do you want to talk to him?"

"is he there?"

"He's been here for a few days now. I'm pretty sure he would love hearing your voice again!"

A lump formed in Sam's throat once again. He hadn't had the time to get nervous before this. Was he going to sound the same? Was he the same big brother he remembered? Was he Dean?

"Okay! If he's not busy, I'd love that!"

"Just give me a minute, and I'll give him the phone…"

On the other end of the line Sam could hear faint footsteps, and he imagined Bobby walking from the table where he kept all the phones, into the hallway and further into the living room.

"Phone for ya…" Sam heard Bobby say.

"Who is it?" That was Dean, and the lump that had started building in Sam's throat got even bigger.

"Answer and find out…" the older man teased.

Sam heard a groan, like someone had difficulty of moving, then he heard a hand clasp around the phone. Then he heard Dean's breath as he prepared to speak.

"Hello?"

"Dean… Damn, it's good to hear your voice!" Sam grinned into the phone.

"Sammy? Is that you?"

"Yeah!"

"Is everything alright? Jess, the kids?" Dean's voice suddenly seemed more alert, almost frightened.

"Yeah, all is good here…" Sam smiled, "Wait, you know about the kids?"

"I keep tabs on my little brother you know…" Dean said with a sense of pride in his voice. Then he strangled a gasp of pain as he moved his leg more than he ought to.

Sam huffed some air out his nose, "Yeah, I guess I should expect that…"

"So… If all is well, why are you calling?" Sam heard the confusion in Dean's voice, and he could have kicked himself. It had been more than a decade since he had had any sort of contact with his brother. The once most important human being in his world.

"I- I… I… Dean, are you okay?"

"Sure Sammy… I'm doing great…" Dean lied, scowling down at his cast.

"Good…" Sam breathed a sigh of relief, "I mean, are you sure?"

"Yeah Sammy. I'm fine…" Dean chuckled nervously, "Why are you asking?"

"Because I've had this really bad feeling for days now… And I can't shake it, and…" Sam ran a hand through his long hair in frustration, "I'm worried about you…"

"Why?"

"Because I feel like something's wrong! Or about to go wrong!"

"Trust me, Sammy… Everything is alright here..." Dean lied, "Nothing to worry 'bout… Just need a little help with some lore, Bobby's helping me with that… Don't worry, okay?"

Sam nodded on the other end of the line. Then he heard Bobby's voice, but he couldn't make out the words. Somehow it sounded like one of those Bobby-threats he knew from way back when, those threats meant to make life easier for yourself once you realized you were an 'idjit'.

He heard Dean pull a deep breath, then he sighed like when he knew he had lost an argument.

"Okay… I might not be speaking the full truth…" Dean cleared his throat, "But I'm fine, I really am… And you and your family is safe… So don't go on and do something stupid, okay?"

"Dean?"

"I just messed up my leg, that's all…" Dean cleared his throat, again. "I'm staying at Bobby's until I'm healed up a bit more…"

"When?"

"Little over a week ago, Tuesday…"

"I knew it!"

"You knew it?"

"Yeah, I haven't been able to relax lately…" Sammy explained, before continuing. "Hey, I've got some days free next week, mind if I get on a plane and come visit?"

"You really think that's a good idea?" Dean said with a worried tone.

"Yeah, why not?"

"You got out, man… Don't pull yourself into this shit again..."

"I won't. I just need to see my brother and my uncle."

"Sammy, I'm begging you… Please…"

"Dean."

"How 'bout, we visit instead? Once I'm a little better, and ready to travel…"

"I'm coming. End of story."

"Sammy…"

"I promise not to hunt, okay?"

Sam could hear his brother's frustration on the other end of the line, but he didn't really care. He needed to see Dean in person, now.

 **Okay, this story kinda went to the fanfic graveyard on my computer for a while… Because I tend to make 10 different projects for myself at once…**

 **Sorry…  
Hope you enjoy it, even though it took forever before I posted this chapter…**


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